Category Archives: The Elder Scrolls

Post navigation

In searching through YouTube for some amusing videos, I came across this mix video entitled, “The Imperial Guard Song.” Since watching it, I’ve got, “You..you…you’ve violated the law” caught in my head…pretty funny.

The video kind of reminds me of this Wilford Brimley that cracked me up.

Yesterday the site honored their September Hall of Fame inductees. From Morrowind, the Tamriel Rebuilt Team’s TR Morrowind Map1: Telvannis was the lone addition to the Hall. This massive mod adds over tons of new exterior and interior cells, over 2000 new dialogue responses, as well as new NPCs, creatures and equipment. Above is a screen of of Tel Ouada, the home of Mistress Rathra that is included within the mod.

Not too long ago, I caught this video on YouTube and thought it was pretty interesting, however, it wasn’t until after attending the GameCrazy event that it really clicked for me. Sitting across from Ubi Soft’s booth, I probably saw the trailer it’s based on 100 times.

Anyhow, after you watch this video, check out the actual trailer for Assassin’s Creed to see the similarities. For those wondering, the song in the trailer is Lonely Souls by U.N.K.L.E featuring Richard Ashcroft (formerly of The Verve) on vocals. This was one of my favorite songs of my freshman year of college — nearly a decade ago.

A couple of weeks ago I received an e-mail from Stephane Wuttunee (aka Veritas_Secreto) regarding his mod project, Tamriel NPCs Revamped. For this mod, the 39-year-old Canadian recreated nearly every NPC within Oblivion (leaving only guards in the game untouched). I had a chance to ask Stephane a few questions and here’s what he had to say.

Here’s an interesting tidbit: speaking with Todd, he wanted to emphasize that officially there is no X or Y in the Daedric Alpabet, although a a few may have accidentally shown up in Morrowind. Now if I could only get a Cracker Jack-like decoder ring so I could start deciphering Todd’s e-mails.

If you’re looking for some of the finest textures for Oblivion, you might want to give Qarl’s Texture Pack III a download. I got head’s up from one of our regular visitors, Chemicaes, who feels the textures are “absolutely amazing,” making the 2 GB zip file worth downloading. You can see how impressive the visuals look in the image above. Visit Planet Elder Scrolls to download…

Another popular mod that we haven’t mentioned here is Oscuro’s Oblivion Overhaul. Currently the most popular download on File Front’s Oblivion Files, this mod is described as a “very complex and extensive modification to TES IV: Oblivion. It changes thousands of variables of this excellent game and also merges into it several very popular third party modifications.”

Do you know of a mod that’s worthy of a shout out on the blog? Let us know by sending an email.

For die-hard Elder Scrolls fans, some may have noticed that The Elder Scrolls Source (TESSource) and The Imperial Library sites had been down for around a week.

Well good news! Earlier this week I spoke with Xanathar at the Imperial Library and they informed me that they have new servers and you can continue to keep up with their fantastic work with Elder Scrolls lore. Bookmark their new site here.

As for the popular site TESSource, which I’ve used to find new modding content in the past, the site returns as The Elder Scrolls Nexus. From what I’ve seen on the site, I like the new format. Looks like it’s still being updated, the site will be back up at 100%.

At the end of last month, in a modding update post, I mentioned the popularity of the Midas Magic Spells of Aurum mod from Xilver. Recently, I had a chance to send over some questions for Xilver (whose real name is Brian Rivers) about the mod. Rivers, whose been writing and modding videogames for the last 17 years is a 33-year-old living in Winston-Salem, NC (home of Pete’s alma mater, Wake Forest) and works as an IT manager for a Fortune 500 company in the area. Among the other games he’s modded are Doom, Unreal Tournament & UT2004.

For those that haven’t tried Midas Magic Spells of Aurum, can you briefly explain the mod?

Midas Magic is a completely new set of spells and effects for Oblivion. It’s designed to add depth to the mage experience, with over 100 diverse spells from earth, water, holy, and force spells to tornados, meteors, hail storms, death rays, and freeze rays just to name a few. The mod boasts a host of summonable creatures; slimes, beholders, balrogs, battle cats, and a flying carpet. Midas Magic has a unique alchemical process for learning the spells which requires gold and other various items from the game. This makes learning each spell a bit of a quest. I’ve put quite a bit of energy into the look of the spells as well as in balancing them with gameplay.

On YouTube today, I noticed that a there’s several videos that help instruct folks with playing the music from The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. I found the above video by user fabiandevries particularly impressive, because of his skills of taping with one hand and filming with the other.

Looks like I’ll have another song to play when I come across a piano. You should see my rendition of the Jurassic Park theme…it’s glorious.

Above is an image from Rougetet’s Lore Friendly Libations mod. This mod is intended to help modders looking to fill up “shelves, bars, etc. within the tavern/bar mods that have been created by other modders with some more colorful and lore-friendly beverages.” S0unds like a great mod to come home to after a tough day at the office.

Also new, here’s a couple cool “cosmetic mods” to check out. Oblivion brings dark times to Cyrodiil, so it makes sense that characters should look like they’ve had a hellish day. Using Djangos Unique Features mod, you can add details like, “scars, stubble, tattoos – even acne” to the NPCs in the game. If scars and acne aren’t bleak enough for you, maybe PrinceofNothing’s Amputations Mod for Morrowind will be. With this mod, you’ll easily be able to “equip” amputations to your character. Let’s start seeing some reenactments of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Last but not least, here’s a shout out to Galuf’s Imperial Texture replacer for Morrowind. With this mod, you can make Imperial structures look a little more homely by giving the textures a more wooden look. Check out the screens here…pretty cool!